


Assumptions

by ForgedWar



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, BAMF Tony Stark, Bruce Is a Good Bro, Competent Tony Stark, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, One Shot, Thor is a Good Bro (Marvel), but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29339019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForgedWar/pseuds/ForgedWar
Summary: People always assumed that the suit was what made Tony strong.  People assumed and that was the problem. They assumed he had a good life. They assumed he was only a playboy. They assumed he was weak. He wasn’t weak, but they assumed he was and that’s how he liked it.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

Everyone knew that Howard was a tad obsessed after Steve disappeared. He was obsessed with finding him. More importantly, or more troubling, he was obsessed with making more of him. 

Between Erskine’s notes and Howard’s work, a new serum was made. A serum that was supposedly better than the original. A serum that was supposed to raise someone beyond human limits rather than take them to them. The question then became who to test it on. Who should be the next Captain America?

The answer came when Howard found out his wife was pregnant. Because who would be better than his child to become the next super soldier? Who better than the child of one of the smartest men on the planet, whose child might grow up to have the same intellect if not greater?

As the months went by Howard got everything ready. He tested various samples, most of which resulting in less than ideal results. He built machines to monitor his child and to hopefully increase the odds of the test going well. He wanted his child to nearly be born with the serum.

If a boy nearly a man, like Steve was, could become someone like Captain America. Then what would happen if a child grew up all their life constantly using the enhanced physique they were given. His child also shouldn’t have nearly the amount of problems as Steve did when he was given the serum. The newer and better serum wouldn’t have to fix nearly as much as the original had to. How strong could they become?

When the day came for the baby to be born Howard was truly happy. Not because he would soon have an enhanced son, but he genuinely felt the happiness, love, and joy that only a father could feel for their child. He had his doubts then, when he looked at that small child held within his wife’s arms. Of course, being the scientific man he was those feelings got pushed back rather easily. The doubts and the sparks of guilt he had were pushed away rather easily as well. If he wanted another super soldier he couldn’t let his feelings get in the way of that.

As the weeks rolled on Howard finally was able to get his son to himself. The weeks beforehand he was a model father and husband. He would care for and play with his son, but he never got alone time with him, with either his wife, Jarvis, or Peggy lingering around. Then the day came when he was left alone with his son.

That day the experiments began.

It was rather simple, straightforward, and remarkably similar to the original experiments. He injected his son, Tony, with the serum and blasted him with vita rays. The wailings of his infant son nearly made him stop the process. Once again he pushed his feelings away and told himself that it would only hurt him more by stopping the process before it was over. He watched the dials and readings silently waiting for them to reach were they needed to be.

Then it stopped. The wailings and screams and then the process itself. As the doors opened and Howard saw his son sitting there red in the face from screaming and sweat covering his small body, but still breathing he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

After cleaning up his son he took him back to the rest of the family and just observed. He wanted to see the changes. He wanted to see how efficient the serum was. 

Months went by but nothing happened, there were no changes. This is when Howard started to drink. He wants to drink because of his failure, because of the experiment's failure, and because of his son’s failure. Howard was a mean drunk. A violent drunk. The target for his rage was Tony. That’s when the beatings started. It’s not like anyone ever noticed. The bruises and cuts simply faded away far faster than should be possible. Even Howard didn’t notice. He was far too drunk to remember beating his son to know to look for the resulting bruises and cuts. It was rough for Tony though. He wanted to tell someone, absolutely anyone, what happened but there were no bruises or cuts to show. It would only ever make him seem like a child throwing a tantrum. This is when he learned patience. The patience to keep himself from an outburst. The self-control from screaming and yelling at the world. He knew that it wouldn’t help. This is when the idea of a mask, a facade, drifted into his mind.

Sober Howard simply chose to ignore his son altogether. Even though his son could have been considered a genius even among geniuses. He had made his first circuit board at two but Howard only saw this two years later when Tony was four. The same thing happened throughout his life. His first engine was built when he was barely three, but they found out, rather chose to notice, when he was six. Even when he went to college. He spent years learning everything he could. Howard, being a genius of a man himself, kept a rather large library on various subjects, and Maria, Tony’s mother, also had various books on less scientific subjects.

Through the work of his butler Jarvis he was able to get into college at ten, and already had a handful of doctorates by the time they said he had graduated from MIT at 17. Which was only his latest pass through college. Not that it was all bad as he had met Rhodey then. Rhodey was the first person he could call a friend, outside of Jarvis, but he saw him as more of a father than anything else. Though they couldn’t keep nearly as much contact as he wished they could seeing as Rhodey went on to join the AirForce. 

Of course higher education wasn’t the only thing he had to learn throughout his life. His father was a billionaire, genius, and co-founder of SHIELD so he got training. Every martial art, self-defense class, and even military and Shield training were given to Tony. Between his impressive mind and enhancements that showed up throughout his childhood, he progressed through his training at an impressive speed. Though a recurring memory was the days his father strapped a gun to his hand and forced him to shoot until he could hit bullseyes or the days that he still got a beating from his father for being a failure. 

Through all of those memories were the ones that he spent with his aunt Peggy and the nights he had at the piano with his mother or even the times he got to play simple board games with Jarvis. These were some of his happiest memories. Though they did become rather bittersweet later on in his life.

When the call came saying that his parents were dead of course he was sad. He had just lost his mother. He was, honestly, happy that his father had passed. It meant the abuse would stop. The funeral was a somber affair. And it marked the first and last time that Tony got drunk. Of course when Obidiah Stane had given a seventeen-year-old a glass of whiskey. Tony was suspicious the man reeked of schemes and lies. 

He hid himself away afterwards spending his time doing what he needed to do in order to keep Stane off his back. Jarvis was one of his last islands of strength. So, it crushed him when the call came on one of the few days that he was in Stark Labs rather than his own personal lab that Jarvis had passed away. He felt lost.

He decided then to build up his mask, the facade that he would hide behind. He would be the classic drunken, arrogant playboy. No one ever seemed to see that he never actually drank any of the various drinks that he had picked up. The many women that he supposedly took home and bedded were in fact only actresses paid to help sell the mask, and were more often than not taken back home. He made his mask so well no one could see through it. Though most didn’t try to either. They rather judge him on what they saw rather than what the actual truth might have been. 

Years later when Tony was captured in Afghanistan he knew that it had to have been Stane. It was also the first time he had ever thanked his father. He thanked him for whatever he had done to him as it kept the shrapnel out of his chest. The various enhancements that the serum gave were incredible though the only ones that actually knew what they were, were his various instructors and Jarvis when he was alive. His strength easily rivaled that of the Captain’s, but the same couldn’t be said about his durability and speed. The best way to describe it is that his body adapted, so he got tougher in order to handle beatings. He got faster and more flexible in order to deal with his many years of training. Thats why he had to thank his father. Between the serum and the beatings he became durable enough to help him survive something like a bomb exploding within a very unsafe distance from his person.

He built a miniature arc reactor and a giant metal suit in order to get himself out of that cave. He had to keep the mask up even when it should have been safe to let it down. He never knew when or how information could get out. Though he added yet another death to his hands. Of course, Yinsen would never agree that his death was his fault, but he knew. Once he had reached the states he had shut down weapons manufacturing. He had changed in the eyes of the public. Though there wasn’t really any change. He had always wanted to shut down weapons manufacturing, but never had a good reason why. Rather one that would fit with the mask that he had been painstakingly keeping up most of his life at this point. The only thing that changed was there was more regret and he now, hopefully, had a way to relieve that regret. And through a certain set of events, Stane was dead and he had control over the company again, and he now had a good reason and idea in order to let himself get out there and help people.

As time passed Tony settled into his life. He also made sure to keep up the assumptions everyone made of him.

Then there was the one day that a feisty redhead came barging into his office in order to correct him on an error on a document. Of course, she pepper sprayed one of his guards on the way in. He couldn’t let her have her job anymore, not with a stunt like that. So, he gave her a new one, one as his personal secretary. Thats how Pepper, Virginia really because he never forgets a name, became one of the few, very few, people in his life that he trusted. 

Then there was that day.

As he entered the gym he saw Happy waiting for him in the ring, and two redheads standing together. One was Pepper and the other was a woman that reminded him of how Obidiah felt, the lies, and the schemes behind his back. As they turned to him he made sure to keep up the facade he had built throughout his life. However, he was barely able to stop himself when he saw one of Shield's top agents, Black Widow, standing there with an innocent smile on her face. He had hacked into his father and aunt’s organization countless times to gather information and make sure no information was added to his file that he didn’t want there. So of course he recognized her. However, he made sure to play his part. Then with a quick check he found out exactly why she was in his company, and then made doubly sure to keep everything he could, reasonably, hidden from her and by proxy Shield. 

After a particularly interesting day, with the Stark Tower finally being completed, of course, it had to get more interesting. The tesseract was stolen and they needed the Avengers. Which was an initiative that Fury had been putting together, since long before the idea of superheroes actually came to be. Though because of that one particular spider that was in his company he wasn’t actually an Avenger he was simply a consultant and was called in to find the cube.

Throughout everything, Tony was able to keep up some semblance of a facade. Even when he had an angry super soldier screaming about how his father was such a good man. Having to work closely with two assassins, a “god”, the American flag, and a green rage monster wasn’t exactly how Tony wanted his life to turn out; though Bruce himself was pretty cool.

Yet, another thing he hadn’t expected to happen was being forced to house those people as well. Having to live with all of those people made it extremely hard to keep up his workout routine, which was the only thing that could tire him out enough to sleep some nights, his CEO and CTO work, and all the other various projects he had. He never really understood how people could see the amount of work he does and never question how he was also a drunk and a playboy. 

To relieve some of that stress he gave over the CEO role to one of the few people he could truly call a friend, Pepper. She had been the third person to ever see through any part of his mask. The first and second being Rhodey and Happy. She had, as his secretary, quickly found out the long hours he worked and how exactly his nights with various women actually went. She knew that he wasn’t a playboy or a drunk. Though like the others she doesn’t know the fullest extent of the mask that he has built for himself. Either way she was more than happy to relieve at least some of his stress. 

Of course, all masks and facades can only last for so long.


	2. Chapter 2

One of the few things that could ever break through Tony’s mask was civilians and their safety. Rather, their safety was one of the only things that could create cracks in one of the strongest things in his arsenal. Because no matter what Tony would blame himself. A habit he picked up from the constant blame placed on his shoulders throughout the years. 

Most of the time these cracks were only surface deep and easily covered by the literal mask he wore. Because while the opinion on Tony Stark might have changed people still made assumptions. They still seem to fail to see how much different he is from the mask he wears. Even him flying a nuke through a wormhole and fully expecting never to make it back didn’t seem to break the assumptions people made so he didn’t need to worry.

Of course, the forced occupation of his tower had caused its own cracks to form that was rectified by the crafting of yet another mask. One that perfectly fit with the one he already wore. Though one special made to fool spies and superhumans, one that played of his supposed narcissism and arrogance. Using those characteristics to have an excuse to simply avoid the Avengers more often than not.

Truly only meeting with the Avengers during missions and emergencies. But thus came the downfall of masks that so carefully hid the man the Tony was from the world. 

It should have been a simple mission and it started that way. The only problem came when the enemy so happened to have an emp, one of the few things Tony hadn’t gotten around to protect his suits from no matter how obvious it should have been. If it was any other situation Tony might have trusted the Avengers to deal with the threat without him, trust them to at least do their jobs. 

Of course, it couldn’t be that simple and it seemed fate itself wanted at least parts of Tony’s walls to crumble away. 

The bad guy of the week that seemed to pick a fight with the Avengers came far too prepared it would seem. An emp waiting to take out the only air support while Thor just so happened to be off-world, weapons capable of holding off the two spies long enough for them to be useless, and Bruce being unavailable. The only one able to do much was the Captain himself. 

This is when Tony’s one weakness came to rear its head. While Captain was the only one able to truly do anything he was far more focused on the enemy in front of him rather than the damage left in the wake of his march forward. 

It would have been easy to simply stop the building from collapsing from within his armor if it weren’t still trying to reboot. He could see the people trapped within and soon to be crushed if no one could help. 

The cracks begin to form. 

He knew he could help, he was fast enough no matter what anyone else believed. Just a twitch and he was already there. Already there holding up the building as the last part of the building holding it collapsed. 

The groan of the building sounded louder in Tony’s ears than he thought it should have. Though the sounds of sighs of relief as those in the building managed to get out. The gasps of shock at seeing who was holding up the building however did the opposite. The sounds to surprise and disbelief from familiar voices caused far more tension in Tony’s frame than he would have thought. 

A secret comes forth and a portion of a nigh impenetrable wall falls. 

As soon as the last person made it out of the building Tony pulled himself out from under it and the building toppled. With head down and a recently rebooted suit waiting Tony took off. He knew if he stayed he would have to explain how he could do such a thing.

Though he should have expected the bombardment from the three people alive that he trusted the most. And trust them he did as he told them. Told them everything. How could he not? He trusted them with his life so how couldn’t he trust them with his past. Beside, there was no good answer to the questions they were asking besides the truth, and they would have kept asking until they did find the truth. 

The bombardment of questions from various media sources and the teammates still occupying his tower were expected too. Though he had no plan. He always had a plan but the one thing he never thought of planning for was the possibility that some portion of the carefully crafted walls he made would fall. 

So the walls must come down. The outsiders saw in and now crave what’s past them. The carefully crafted walls fall. 

While Tony stayed silent trying and hoping the media’s attention would blow over. However, with his silence dozens of reports and buries leads were found. Testimonies of those actresses that he had paid to play the part years ago. Numerous bartenders coming forward telling people exactly how much Tony drank, rather they told of the fact that he only ever ordered virgin drinks for himself. People began pulling out facts that while everyone already knew them seemed to have a different meaning when they learned Tony would risk his life without his suit to save a building. The nuke, the various charities donated to, the purpose of the Maria Stark Foundation, and even the countless inventions designed specifically to help people that were produced by Stark Industries were all brought back to the surface. And people’s assumptions of the man Tony Stark began to crumble themselves. 

When the media attention to the good that Tony had done didn’t just blow over like it always had, Tony had no choice but to come forward. Setting up a press conference was as easy as it had always been. Rather than wearing the special tailored suit he almost always wore during press conferences was replaced with a simple tattered ACDC tshirt and jeans. 

Then the conference began and as Tony approached the mic the crowd hushed. Gazing across the crowd with a look far more open and vulnerable then any of the reporters had seen on man such as Stark. Tony leaned forward and began what would be the final blow to the walls that he had built for years. And he spoke one word…

“Assumptions”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess you could call this my first completed(?) Fanfic. Its not the best and I feel like the second chapter ended up a bit rushed but I hope at least one person likes it.


	3. Chapter 3: Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after the events of last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did some small editing to previous chapters. Nothing important.

One of the main emotions present in the various minds of the Avengers was confusion. 

For Thor he had only heard second hand stories of what had happened. He heard that the Man of Iron had done something incredible without the amazing midgardian armor he had crafted himself. He was confused because he always knew Brother Stark was something more than what the others had seemed to think. He knew he was stronger than most of the team even without the suit. Though Thor was naive he wasn’t dumb and he had lived for centuries, not to mention he was a warrior, he could tell when someone was strong. He had spent enough time with Jane and Darcy to know enough about modern day Midgard. He didn’t call Brother Stark the Man of Iron purely because of his suit or his hero name, but rather he could tell that he was made of something greater than human flesh. He was confused on how no one else could see that. How supposed masters of observation and assassnation like the Widow and Hawkeye could miss something like that in someone who was their Shield Brother.

Bruce was just as confused as Thor was. He knew Tony was far different than what he showed the rest of the world and even what he showed the team. He caught glimpses of the long hours he would spend working on projects for his company, only to spend even longer repairing and upgrading the team’s gear all without break. He knew Tony was different from the moment he had greeted him the first time and when he willingly flew a nuke into a portal. Bruce knew that the man cared far more than most would realize. He had heard the same stories as Thor and they confused him. He knew Tony was different but he had no clue how different the man that wore shiny armors was. Though, once again, like Thor he was confused on how other members of the team couldn’t tell that Tony was different than what the world assumed him to be. 

Was Clint confused? Yes, of course he was. With his eyesight he caught just how fast Tony had moved in order to stop that building from falling on those people. He could see the tension in his body had been far more connected to the reactions he garnered than the building resting on his shoulders. He was confused where the strength had come from, where the speed had come from, and where the anxiety that seemingly contradicted Tony’s character had come from. He was also equally confused about what was apparently Tony’s true colors and personality. He knew it was partially his fault that he never saw it. He never bothered to look past what had been a mask because he trusted Nat’s capabilities in reading people. He trusted her to make an accurate reading. The one thing he hoped for though was that the sarcastic banter the two would share every so often wouldn’t be lost now that Tony’s walls had fallen. Because whether he would admit it or not he enjoyed being able to banter with someone that could keep up with his wit and wouldn’t stab him if he pushed the wrong buttons. 

Natasha experienced a flurry of emotions. Regret, self-doubt and hatred, and the common confusion. She was confused on his superhuman abilities, but she was focused far more on his real personality. The same one she had missed when she was sent to personally find it. The one that had been swept away by her own assumptions of the man named Tony Stark. She regretted what she had written on his file now. Though she knew it was too late for that feeling to do much for her or him. More importantly she hates herself. She had spent years with Shield trying to make up for the ledger full of red. She had spent years trying to make people forget the assumption that she was still the KGB assassin she was trained to be. Yet, she made assumptions about Stark and they blinded her from any signs that he had been using a facade to hide from everyone. She had found all the textbook signs for the classic narcissistic drunken playboy and of course they were textbook, where else would he have gotten his information about those traits? Now that she knew and she looked back she could see all the little signs that should have told her that her initial assessment was wrong. If she couldn’t forgive herself how would Tony ever be able to?

Steve was a mess. He regretted that it was his fault that Tony’s walls had fallen. He knew that if he had paid more attention that that situation would never have happened. As much as the regret weighed on him the confusion of where these superhuman powers came from still remain. When he and the other Avengers had watched the press conference, which was sadly the first time they had seen Tony since the incident, he learned about the truth. The experimentation and abuse that the man he had viewed as a brother of sorts had done to his son. He regrets a lot of what he said to the man now. He regretted so much and he only wishes that Tony would have it in him to forgive him.

The world itself was shocked. They had idolized a man that willingly experimented on and abused his son, and then demonized the son. There was of course the minority that chose to believe it was a lie and just a publicity stunt. Though they were quickly drowned out by the rising support for the new Tony Stark that wasn’t new at all.

Rhodey and Happy were ecstatic that the man that was a major fixture in both of their lives finally let the walls surrounding him fall. They didn’t judge him or change how they treated him, but they know that now they knew the truth that they could help Tony far better than they could in the past. 

Pepper… well she was happy that Tony could be himself around her. She knew the man best out of the people still left alive on Earth. She had known he had walls and secrets but she could never bring herself to pry. She couldn’t risk hurting the man she had fallen for over the years because she had asked the wrong thing. So, when he had come to them to tell them everything she was overjoyed. She had promised herself that she would stay by his side for as long he would have her there, no matter what form that took. 

The man himself that caused all of this in these people felt both incredibly empty and fulfilled. He felt empty because of the loss of what became a mainstay in his life after so many years. With that emptiness came a sense of relief and fulfillment. He knew that now he could truly be himself. He could act and do what he wanted without worrying about his mask. However, he would never know how long the habits he had formed would last either.

Life would move on for everyone. The Avenger would continue to fight the seemingly weekly bad guy, and the world as a whole would move on. Though the occasional story of a new invention released by Stark Industries would remain a fixture of life. 

Tony’s relationship with the various Avengers only grew, though that was after the period of being treated like glass. Him and Thor would talk and spar. Tony and Bruce were still “Science Bros!” Clint and him still shared their sarcastic banter though now they would also play games and host movie nights they would force the other Avengers to join in on. Tony quickly forgave Natasha and Steve. He knew enough about Natasha, from reading her files on multiple occasions, to know how much the discovery must have caused her pain, and despite what Steve had said in the past he knew that he wouldn’t have said them if he had known the full story. If he had known how Howard changed after he went under the ice or if he knew that he would need to look for a mask he wasn’t trained to find. 

Tony, Rhodey, and Happy were just the same as before. They still joked the same, and they still held the same conversations. Now though Rhodey and Happy knew what to do and say when Tony seemed to struggle on some days. They knew to give him space when he would silently leave on certain days to visit his people that weren’t with him anymore. 

On those same days the only person who would go with him was Pepper. She would be there with him with a comforting hand on his shoulder as quiet sobs would shake his frame during those visits. She was oftentimes the quiet presence beside him that grounded him and the first voice and hand to reach out when he drifted too far out. She would become so much more to him as the months would pass. 

While life wasn’t perfect it was far better that it had been when he had been living behind masks and the assumptions. 

Everyone learned an important lesson from Tony’s life. 

That assuming can cause you to be blind to even the brightest of colors and deaf to even the most beautiful of sounds.

**Author's Note:**

> All comments are welcome! 
> 
> Please tell me if you think something could have been done better and if you like any particular portion!


End file.
